X Marks the Spot
by LoliBat
Summary: Soukoku- Double Black. It's what they call them; it's their name when they're together- an identity and a memory in the dust. For all they were double black, their coloring doesn't quite match. Chuuya's coloring has always been a fiery red, and Dazai: gray. But for all they differ in fashion (or the lack of it) they always share one piece of clothing- a black x that marks the spot.


Soukoku- _Double Black_. It's what they call them; it's their name when they're together- an identity and a memory in the dust (to be resurrected and dredged out as needed). It's a name to send the toughest of mafia scurrying; it's a name from tales whispered in fear.

Yet, for all they were double black, their coloring doesn't quite match. Chuuya's coloring has always been _red_ \- his red hair, his maroon suits, his temper that burns like an everlasting fire. He is red embodied, just as much as Ozaki Kyouyou is Gold and Ougai Mori, black. On the other hand, Dazai has always been _grey_. The dark grey of his hair, the grey of his suit, and the charcoal eyes that belay the sharpest mind the mafia has ever seen. In fact, if it were not for the trench coat that he wears, Dazai looks as if he were mourning, in his various shades of monotone. Mourning for what, Chuuya didn't know- he didn't think the bastard had a heart to mourn with.

Dazai thinks of them as double black, for X marks the spot. For all they differ in fashion (or the lack of it, depending on who you ask), they always share one piece of clothing, and a black x marks the spot. Across their bodies, they wear a black x ( _crossed in front of their hearts, the blackness closely matching the rot deep within them_ ). They wear it in different ways; Dazai with a small turquoise jewel and Chuuya with a small clasp. Yet nonetheless, a single black x crosses their chest- all graduated orphans of the mafia wear the same x (and like them, a vest to cover it in almost entirety). All children taken in by the mafia wear it after they graduate, as a sign-and a silent reminder- of who they owe their loyalty to (they were twisted by the darkness, and there's no going back, but _they had to survive_ ). Some, like Akutagawa, hides it expertly- a past that he never wants to see. But for Dazai and Chuuya, it was simply a part of their past. Noted, but not mentioned. Remembered, but not defining.

And it was for this reason (and a thousand more) that Chuuya _hurts_. It has been _years_ , and their past is hardly worth mentioning, but Dazai has always been a sentimental, careless bastard in all the ways that normal people can't even begin to understand. For Dazai's greatest ability has never been his ability to nullify- that in itself has enough weaknesses to exploit. No, _his greatest ability has always been his mind_ , and when in combination with a gift so versatile, it was _dangerous_. So much so, that the leaders of the Port Mafia felt threatened and took action. But for Chuuya, he sees Dazai, and he sees that black x striking across his chest, and he thinks that maybe it would hurt less if he had stricken away his past, taken off all the things that made him what he was and started anew ( _in the light, where he has never belonged_ ).

He opened a bottle of Petrus the night his childhood best friend- his partner in crime- left. And perhaps he would remember what his treasure tasted like if he wasn't passed out drunk.

There were no explanations. He didn't give any, Dazai thinks, and it wouldn't have changed the outcome in any way. There was no point; Chuuya would never forgive him, because he has the temper of fire- and fires burns forever when given enough fuel. He would never understand, because for all of the things Chuuya had done and lived through, he was never Mafia Black, like he had been slowly edging towards. He was always a bright, fiery red, full of passion and anger and excessiveness (in all definitions of the word). An explanation wouldn't have made a difference when he was shattering Chuuya's world so completely. And perhaps, if he has a heart, he would care ( _is that what that twinging feeling is? The moment when he left the base for the last time?_ ). Nonetheless, he leaves Chuuya a gift- a final act of kindness (and his random acts of kindness often earn him a big _"Fuck you, you bastard!_ " from his partner). He rigs a bomb in his car (both to stop Chuuya from chasing after him and to get him that new car he's been wanting- and to put that on the mafia's funds as collateral damage).

It was in a dingy bar that they met again, each one half of double black. It was Dazai, who pulled up a bar stool and sat down. His trench coat flared out dramatically, and he casually ordered a bottle of warm sake and turned to his old partner when the bartender rushed away to do as he was told. Light from the dim bar glances off the turquoise jewel on his breast. His old partner, who was nursing a drink, slowly watching the ice twirl in his cup. By the sharpness in his gaze, Dazai knew that Chuuya was not yet drunk (he was never quite as drunk as he was pretending to be- no true drunk would sober up quite so quickly).

"It will never work, you know," Chuuya spoke to his whiskey.

Dazai listens, as he always does even when he pretends not to.

"Your _"New Double Black'_ ," he sneers.

"And why," Dazai asks casually as he accepts his sake with a nod of thanks, "do you say that?" His eyes were shadowed- _like always-_ in the darkness of the bar

Chuuya can think of a million and a half reasons for why they wouldn't work off the top of his head (and the first dozen start with a solid "Fuck You!"). But mainly: because it takes two to be a partnership. It takes two to form the same trust that makes Souoku so dangerous, and the tiger and that shitty apprentice _just can't do it_.

They would sooner slit each other's' throats than to trust the other with their life. And that's not how partnerships _work_. Right now, they are united over the commonality of being Dazai's student, and short of revenge for Dazai's life _(like_ hell _Chuuya will ever let that happen, and if Dazai's stupid enough to get caught, then the bastard deserves what's getting to him, and it's not like he would go on a lifelong quest for vengeance either. Fuck,_ Good Riddance _, that_ bastard), he can't see them ever working together as a cohesive team for longer than an hour at most.

Double Black was born in the darkness and rot that is the Port Mafia. They were born as orphans, to parents that they can't even remember, to a "family" who bonds over blood and death (family, to them, was just an abstract bond to stop them from betraying each other). They were born in the toughest of conditions, to the worst of "parents" (Chuuya remembers the sinking feeling of horror as he sees Dazai for the first time and takes more than five minutes to mentally categorize all his injuries. Dazai sees Chuuya for the first time and wonders whose bastard kid he was). They were born from missions that almost kill them, and from harsh training ( _almost abuse_ ) that would have killed lesser men. They bond from the conditions ( _the stress)_ , like diamonds created under pressure. They had no grandiose dreams like overthrowing the mafia or creating a better world; they were simply two children with extraordinary abilities trying to _survive_ in a world that screams "to kill or to be killed". And somewhere along the way, they end up as best friends, creating bonds and memories run so deeply that they never fade even after years of hatred and mutiny.

And Atsushi and Akutagawa don't have that. They don't have the trust (don't have the _hurt_ ), haven't endured the same experiences, haven't _become diamonds- not just yet_.

For all the mafia is corrupt, they are a dysfunctional family (as dysfunctional as dysfunctional comes). Some days, "family" is but a veneer, a gossamer mist fading fast past the morning. Other days, it is a weapon (Dazai knows how to keep Kyouyou down, for as terrifying as she is, her heart has always been- _and will always_ be-her weakness). Some days, it is the last drop of whiskey in Chuuya's cup ( _Why?_ He asks a thousand times- he feels as tired and weighed down as the gravity he manipulates), the papers in Kyouyou's hands ("I've got a dispatch for the Detective Agency. Since they come here often, could you give this to them?" _Congratulations, Kyouka- thrive in the light and don't turn back_ , she thinks). And Dazai's shitty apprentices simply don't have that bond.

"You're an idiot if you think it will work," Chuuya says at last. The ice clanks noisily, and he waves the bartender over for a refill.

"Have my strategies ever been wrong?" Dazai asks mildly. Chuuya sees the present and not the past; he's a tactician, but Dazai is a strategist. No matter what his opponent does, he is always three- no, five- steps ahead in any and all directions, and he doesn't need it to be his ability. It is simply the way he was _raised_ , groomed to be the next leader in the Port Mafia.

Chuuya says nothing, but he thinks that the one thing Dazai has never seen (or never cared enough to see) was people. He thinks nothing of life and death, doesn't understand the concepts of justice and morality. He keeps sentimental things about him- that cloak, that x- but he doesn't see what they do to the people that remember him. He doesn't understand passion. What he does understand of people, he uses to manipulate others- to use them for his own gain. And perhaps, the _world_ was like that at its basest levels, but Chuuya can't help but think that Dazai doesn't know ( _or care about_ ) the _hurt_ he inflicts on others from his apathy.

And even if he _did_ manage to get those two to work together without killing themselves (and everyone else in a ten mile radius of them as collateral damage, Chuuya thinks), they won't be _Double Black_. They won't be _Soukoku_. They can be something else- _someone else_ \- but Double Black is something they will _never_ be. Double Black is special, borne of pressure and blood and nights of tears and hurt. It's a camaraderie that can't be replaced- _one that is still very much alive_. They can be every other thing, _but just not Double Black_.

Chuuya doesn't think Dazai sees that. All he sees are another pair with potential. He simply sees compatibility in their abilities, a commonality he can manipulate them to – _like pulling puppets on a string_ -. The only saving grace Dazai has a claim to is that he never tries to hide the fact that he's really manipulating them for his own interests. He never hides that fact when confronted in him- he just shrugs, smiles, and continues doing what he does best.

Perhaps, deep down on some level, Dazai doesn't see a point in living. Does he regret the things he does? No. Dazai is a being that doesn't feel regret, only an echo of it.

And, Chuuya hates him all the more for him. Hates him with as much passion and fire as he once did in protecting his back- for the same black x that marks their past.

* * *

Mandy: New plot bunny that bit me and just won't let go, haha (this was written and proofread in about an hour and a half). It's really more of a headcannon because Chuuya's angst is almost palatable. I'm having so many Soukoku feels right now, I'm not even kidding. And damn Chuuya's voice actor has the nicest voice ever- I usually like the manga version of the character better, but I really think the anime Chuuya's better… Also, does anyone else think that Dazai has sociopathic tendencies? Or is it just me? I wouldn't go as far as to call Chuuya an empath, but I definitely think Dazai has sociopathic tendencies (not that it's a bad thing in the mafia, per se). There is _maybe_ a bit of Soukoku as a pairing if you squint, haha.


End file.
